How did my deuce ever run?

[snakehunter1964]

Having problems with fuel flow on warmup. It idled fine until I gave it some juice after warmup. Runs fine down the road but any extended idling time caused the same problem. If I left the lift pump running for about a minute, it would fire up and drive fine. I suppose the lift pump couldn't keep the system well supplied at idle so it would starve when I tried to roll.

Decided it was time to swap the filters and what did I find?

The secondary and final cans were full about 2 inches with what got through, plus a good bit of gelatinous diesel.

I was wowed. Time to clean the tank?

 

[earnie]

dude that poor truck had a real bad case of fuel asthma
should totaly consider a total douche of the entire fuel system to keep that crud from getting to the injector pump

 

[wildbilly1760]

You made a good move. You will probably gain some horspower now. Im with earnie: flush the whole system.

 

[littlebob]

Doesn't look that bad to me. If you run gas in it, do it with the intent of running it all out and not let it sit in the tank.

 

[G-Force]

What was in your primary filter. you know, the one mounted on the frame rail on the passenger side under the alternator. If that is what your secondary and final filter look like I'll bet the primary doesn't have a cartridge in it. That looks like algae. Sure sign of water in the tank.

 

[Billy Bobbed]

You should drain the tank.

 

[tiger422]

Drain and wash out tank so you don't keep using up filters.

Jim

 

[snakehunter1964]

THe primary was in there. That's the one pictured.

So, thanks for the good advice. I'm going after the tank this weekend!

I'll update everyone of the progress.

 

[lavarok]

Your '87 was originally sold out of Warner Robbins if I am not mistaken. I don't know what the deal is with trucks from there, but I have seen and heard of more than a few that have had similar issues with gelled gunk in the fuel.

I dealt with one myself last year...and it was NASTY!! Definitely drop and clean that tank. Your truck will thank you.

 

[Warthog]

All of the AirForce trucks I have worked on (3), have had this fuel problems. Don't know what they use for feul but its nasty.

 

[snakehunter1964]

Your '87 was originally sold out of Warner Robbins if I am not mistaken. I don't know what the deal is with trucks from there, but I have seen and heard of more than a few that have had similar issues with gelled gunk in the fuel.

I dealt with one myself last year...and it was NASTY!! Definitely drop and clean that tank. Your truck will thank you.

You sir are correct. I knew it was junked up when I bought it so it's not a surprise. I wonder myself. The maintenance records show them driven only about 400 miles a year for 20 years. I suppose they never truly emptied the tanks for the most part and it just turned to tar.

When cleaning the cans for the filters, I used laquer thinner and it works miracles on the gunk that's left over after a good swipe with a paint stir stick.

So, I plan on pulling the lift pump out of the tank, getting in there with a good solid scraping device (probably made of wood, no reason to score the inside of the tank) and when it's as gunk free as possible, I'm going in with a gallon of laquer thinner. Wash down the walls and let it sit all night (don't worry, I'll only smoke menthols during this part of the process so I won't harm my lungs ). Give it some good agitation and recover the whole bunch of stuff.
Hopefully it'll be nice and clean at that point.

Not sure about flushing the lines. I suppose I can run some extra sea foam through with clean diesel and recheck the primary filter after a tankful.

 

[airmech3839]

Probably buy a second set of filters and just do like you said and flush lines with sea foam or something like that and then change out all three.. cause you know there is stuff in the line past the primary... My